Malthazaar MacDuncan
Malthazaar MacDuncan, the self-proclaimed "archmage" of the Codex Cabal is a surprisingly influential warlock (though he spent years masquerading as a sorcerer). He is one of the survivors of the assault on Farplane Bastion which ended the Gnosian Crisis, a veteran of the Entropius War and according to some accounts (mostly his own) the single-handed savior of the Alldruid Lukan after his capture by the Gnosian Burol. Separating fact from fiction is a difficult task in the case of MacDuncan, as the number of heroic acts attributed to him by both common and arcane historians is sheerly mindbogling though not out of the realm of possibility for one of his considerable power. MacDuncan had a number of rivalries friendly and otherwise with some of the most influential figures of modern Quesalothian history. Archmage Arcturus of the Council of Archmages and Professor McGee of Astra deLunastra (both of whom were also involved in the battle of Farplane Bastion) spoke both sardonically and dismissively of MacDuncan in the years following their adventures. Though members of the Codex Cabal maintain that these two were simply jealous of the accomplishments of their contemporary arcanist, the diatribes of two such emanent luminaries of modern arcana are hard to ignore from a historical viewpoint. Regent Lord of Sauldan Van Roke del Kamil also had a number of famous exchanges with MacDuncan, mostly in the form of letters sent back and forth between the two in the years following the Gnosian Crisis. Though ostensably cordial in nature the letters had universally biting undertones and each seemed to enjoy blasting the other with subtly scathing comments buried deep within paragraphs of courteous discourse. Early Life and Rise to Power Little is known of MacDuncan's youth or the circumstances of his birth. What is known is that he was the son of an as yet unknown merchant of considerable wealth and that his mother died giving birth to him. He had an older brother who is presumed dead, but confirmation of that fact has been difficult to ascertain due to MacDuncan's silence on the issue. His father gave him up to the sorcerers of Astra deLunastra on his tenth birthday, after his innate magical power was discovered. The anecdotes MacDuncan frequently recited involved a great deal of unintentional property damage due to emotional outbursts causing firey backlash and a number of family pets meeting unfortunate ends. Like all born sorcerers, the untamed well of wild magic within him was highly damaging to both body and spirit and without the training and discipline of the Astra deLunastran sorcerers he would have been destined to die at a very young age. Unlike many sorcerers, whose focus lies almost solely in the powers conjurable by their imaginations, MacDuncan found himself enthralled by more wizardly pursuits of ancient lore and forgotten or forbidden magics. After graduating his training as a sorcerer it is known that MacDuncan entered an unknown mage college under the guise of a mundane with an aptitude for magical studies. There he studied whatever bits of eldritch knowledge he could find and advanced quite quickly to the rank of professor by his twentieth birthday. He was discovered almost a decade later to be "more than dabbling" in arts far darker than the college was comfortable with and was given a warning. The next year he summoned a powerful demon on school property to disasterous consequences and was banished from the school. His father had passed away the month before and left him a considerable fortune, much of which he spent to reinvent himself as a practitioner of what he called "responsible magic". He founded the Codex Cabal in Astra deLunastra and constructed his first school, the Ivory Tower. Over the years he became extremely powerful through what is now known to have been the forging of a vast number of infernal pacts. He became something of a local celebrity in Astra and was even invited to the Sauldanian Conference, the event which is decidedly the beginning of the Gnosian Crisis. Exploits During the Crisis and Beyond Shortly after surviving the assault by the Gnosians Burol and Lady Sanguine, MacDuncan, Arcturus and a Hurthe called Im'ka Ilgo'a were summoned by Regent Lord Van Roke to discuss what was to be done about the stolen Seeds of Life. Arcturus led them to Vesuvius, another member of the Council of Archmages and the only living person who'd ever killed a Gnosian. The essential problem being that with the power of a god comes the immortality of one. Were they even to manage to find and kill Burol or Sanguine, the Gnosian would return to life in a matter of hours somewhere else. Vesuvius led them to an ancient device called an Annelus, which among its many other properties allowed them to communicate safely with the demon god of undeath, Orcus. MacDuncan brokered a deal with Orcus to get ancient artifacts called Helrok Gems which gave them the power to permanently slay lesser gods. In return, they were to travel to the Desert of Lost Souls to kill a powerful thrall of Graz'zt (Orcus' main rival) who was planning to free his demonic patron from his eternal prison. The intrepid team did so (little is known of their time spent in the Desert, none involved seemed willing to talk about it). After returning from the Desert, four years had passed. Though to MacDuncan and the others they'd only been gone a few weeks (this of course due to the Desert of Lost Souls being partially plane-shifted away frome the Prime Materia). In their absence the Mad Archmage Zagyg had partially ascended to demigodhood after consuming half a vial of Gnosium and became a being called Entropius, who was presently leading an army against eastern Quesaloth. They defeated him and discovered that Entropius had also stolen one of the three Seeds of Life from the Gnosians. After ending the Entropius War, MacDuncan and his commrades destroyed a Gnosium factory on the island of Vurdel, captured the Gnosian Lady Sanguine, ended the murauding Black Parade and even traveled to Heldrassyl the corrupted Tree of Life after discovering from Sanguine that the Gnosians had taken Alldruid Lukan there to be drained of his power. In Heldrassyl MacDuncan discovered that the Gnosians were responsible for the corruption of the tree in the first place, freed Lukan and returned to the surface. The following months are murky at best, as reports about this time are few and far between. It's known that at the Battle of the Dales MacDuncan played a pivotal role and even predicted the Quillian Elves' treachery before they turned against the allied forces. The Gnosian Sarlmegn found himself trapped after Van Roke managed to anchor him to the Prime Materia and Van Roke and MacDuncan fought the Gnosian together, with MacDuncan delivering the final blow (according to the "offical account"). That victory proved the turning point for MacDuncan and his allies as they now had a Key Periapt, the magical trinket which allows Gnosians to travel from the Prime Materia to the Farplane Bastion. MacDuncan led the assault several weeks later and returned in the late summer of 1244 6e. After the Crisis was averted, MacDuncan immediately went about spinning his adventures into a number of internationally best-selling memoirs. He had immense quantities of celebrity and influence which he used to open several more "branch offices" of his burgeoning Codex Cabal all over Quesaloth. Years in the public spotlight were a mixed blessing, however, as he soon found himself falling victim to that "pesky public scrutiny" as he called it in his last memoir, The Perils of Being Me.